Teach girls aged 12 to have a baby by late 20s
Expert’s warning over fertility
GIRLS should be taught in primary school that the ‘optimal age’ to start a family is in their late twenties, an expert has claimed.
Dr Sarah Martins da Silva said a generation of career women risk missing out on motherhood because they do not realise the number of eggs in their body is declining.
The consultant gynaecologist and lecturer wants girls as young as 12 to be warned of their falling fertility at the same time as they are given sex education.
Dr da Silva, who works at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, said that before running out of time when they reach their forties, women should have the information to plan the right time to start a family.
Speaking last night in advance of a debate in Edinburgh on egg freezing, the expert said: ‘There is incredible misunderstanding about when fertility declines. Some people think it is after the age of 40, but late twenties or early thirties is the optimal age to have a baby.
‘I want people to be equipped with that knowledge. I don’t want children to think they are pitching for their late twenties or nothing else, but I would like them to think about starting a family before their mid-thirties, before the age of 35.
‘If children are old enough for us to be talking about sexual infections, sexual health and reproduction, part of the message should be about fertility as a running theme.’
Dr da Silva has criticised the lack of early years education about fertility.
It comes as soaring numbers of women in their forties in Scotland are having babies, with rising numbers turning to IVF after finding they cannot conceive naturally.
The Glasgow Centre of Reproductive Medicine, which provides private fertility treatment, this week reported the average age of women seeking its services is 38, as many women have delaying having a baby to pursue their career, achieve financial stability or find the right partner.
The consultant gynaecologist said: ‘I see women in front of me week after week and have to break their heart by telling them the reality is they cannot have children, or the chances are very slim.
‘The demographic of people I see in clinic is career women who are educated and empowered and yet there is this fundamental lack of knowledge about ovarian reserve [the number of eggs in a woman’s body] and female fertility.’
She suggests girls from the age of 12 should be shown a graph charting the decline of the eggs, not to dictate when they have a baby but to give them enough knowledge to make an informed choice later.
Dr da Silva, an honorary senior lecturer in reproductive medicine at the University of Dundee, said: ‘By the time you are 35, your fertility will be waning. At 37 it will be dropping and by 40 it will be dropping fast. This is about encouraging a discussion on that.
‘I have a son aged 12 in P7 and that is the year when they cover the introduction to eggs and sperm, so it would be the right time.’
The view was backed by another speaker in last night’s debate organised by charity the Progress Educational Trust, entitled Can Women Put Motherhood on Ice?
Speaking before the debate, Dr Angel Petropanagos, of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, said girls should even be taught while in school about the possibility of freezing their eggs in their thirties to delay motherhood.
She added: ‘But we should include balance about the risks and benefits of using assisted reproductive technology, and about adoption and remaining childless as well.’
‘I tell them the chances are slim’